WHAT ALL HAPPENED JANUARY TO AUGUST 1979
Find out what all happened January to August 1979

CBS News Sunday Morning debuts with original host and cocreator Charles Kuralt. (28. January 1979)

Bryan Allen wins the second Kremer prize for a man powered flight across the English Channel in the Gossamer Albatross. (12. June 1979)

Nicaraguan president General Anastasio Somoza Debayle resigns and flees to Miami, Florida. (17. July 1979)

In China, a Hawker Siddeley Trident crashes into a factory near Beijing, killing at least 200. (14. March 1979)

ABC News correspondent Bill Stewart is shot dead by a Nicaraguan soldier under the regime of Anastasio Somoza Debayle. The murder is caught on tape and sparks an international outcry against the regime. (20. June 1979)

Anwar al-Sadat, Menachem Begin and Jimmy Carter sign the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty in Washington, D.C.. (26. March 1979)

The Ghost Train Fire at Luna Park Sydney (New South Wales, Australia) kills seven. (9. June 1979)

In Kabul, Setami Milli militants kidnap the American ambassador to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs who is later killed during a gunfight between his kidnappers and police. (14. February 1979)

America's Voyager 1 spacecraft has its closest approach to Jupiter, 172,000 miles. (5. March 1979)

Soviet probes Venera 11, Venera 12 and the American solar satellite Helios II all are hit by "off the scale" gamma rays leading to the discovery of soft gamma repeaters. (5. March 1979)

Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings takes power in Ghana after a military coup in which General Fred Akuffo is overthrown. (4. June 1979)

President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan is executed. (4. April 1979)

Formal diplomatic relations are established between China and the United States. (1. January 1979)

Independence of Saint Lucia from the United Kingdom. (22. February 1979)

Konstantinos Karamanlis signs the full treaty of the accession of Greece with the European Economic Community. (28. May 1979)

A blowout at the Ixtoc I oil well in the southern Gulf of Mexico causes at least 3,000,000 barrels (480,000 m3) of oil to be spilled into the waters, the second-worst accidental oil spill ever recorded. (3. June 1979)

Several tornadoes strike the city of Woodstock, Ontario, Canada and the surrounding communities. (7. August 1979)

Iraqi President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr resigns and is replaced by Saddam Hussein. (16. July 1979)

Red River Valley tornado outbreak: A tornado lands in Wichita Falls, Texas killing 42 people. (10. April 1979)

Philips demonstrates the Compact Disc publicly for the first time. (8. March 1979)